Atmospheric Sciences Assignment
Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences (ATOC-210)
Assignment # 5, due date March 19, 2009
Explain why, on a sunny day, an aneroid barometer would indicate "stormy" weather when carried to the top of a hill or a mountain? The higher you go up the more the atmospheric pressure decreases. With an aneroid barometer, there are weather related words printed above atmospheric pressure values. If you move up the top of a hill or a mountain, the pressure on the barometer would decrease. On top of that, surface low pressure areas are usually associated with rising air and cloudy, wet weather. That would make the barometer point to “stormy” weather.
2) Why is that, on the equator, winds may blow either counter clock wise or clock wise with respect to an area of low pressure? On the equator winds may blow either counter clockwise or clockwise due to the weak Coriolis Effect in this region. The Coriolis Effect is at its maximum at the poles and zero at the equator.
3.) Why don't Chinook winds form on the east side of the Applanchians?
Chinook winds do not form on the east side of the Appalachians because of this mountain range’s location. The Chinooks occur when strong westerly winds flow above a north-south trending mountain range (for example, the Rocky Mountains). Because of the location of the Appalachians the westerly winds that are needed for Chinooks do not affect this mountain range.
4) Why do clouds tend to form over land with a sea breeze and over water with a land breeze?
Clouds tend to form over land with a sea breeze because with a sea breeze, cold air from the sea meets the warmer air above the land creating a shallow cold front, which is followed by cloud formation (ex: clouds like cumulonimbus). For a land breeze, this process reverses but with extra moisture from the water.
Assignment # 5, due date March 19, 2009
Explain why, on a sunny day, an aneroid barometer would indicate "stormy" weather when carried to the top of a hill or a mountain? The higher you go up the more the atmospheric pressure decreases. With an aneroid barometer, there are weather related words printed above atmospheric pressure values. If you move up the top of a hill or a mountain, the pressure on the barometer would decrease. On top of that, surface low pressure areas are usually associated with rising air and cloudy, wet weather. That would make the barometer point to “stormy” weather.
2) Why is that, on the equator, winds may blow either counter clock wise or clock wise with respect to an area of low pressure? On the equator winds may blow either counter clockwise or clockwise due to the weak Coriolis Effect in this region. The Coriolis Effect is at its maximum at the poles and zero at the equator.
3.) Why don't Chinook winds form on the east side of the Applanchians?
Chinook winds do not form on the east side of the Appalachians because of this mountain range’s location. The Chinooks occur when strong westerly winds flow above a north-south trending mountain range (for example, the Rocky Mountains). Because of the location of the Appalachians the westerly winds that are needed for Chinooks do not affect this mountain range.
4) Why do clouds tend to form over land with a sea breeze and over water with a land breeze?
Clouds tend to form over land with a sea breeze because with a sea breeze, cold air from the sea meets the warmer air above the land creating a shallow cold front, which is followed by cloud formation (ex: clouds like cumulonimbus). For a land breeze, this process reverses but with extra moisture from the water.